


The Box Controls the Magic Mirror

by krisherdown



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-07 12:06:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4262694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krisherdown/pseuds/krisherdown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abed looks for a way Annie could be a princess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Box Controls the Magic Mirror

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nereid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nereid/gifts).



The Shrek movies leave Abed cold.

Okay, he understands the concept: take a bunch of fairy tale clichés, spin them around in blender, reference real life cultural moments.  It’s good for the kids to reinvent the tired old stories so they’re back to being cool.  At least, that’s the easiest way to understand what’s going on when you get to stuff like the random Gingerbread Man and the Three Little Pigs.

The core of the movies, their most significant selling point, is the bond between an ogre determined to push everyone away and a talking donkey who refuses to leave.  The donkey always needs to be the center of attention, further aggravating the ogre who preferred solitude to being judged for his appearance by the townspeople.

Going by the way Jeff is acting during most of their study sessions, he clearly sees himself as the Shrek dealing with a world full of donkeys.  Except for Annie, who is of course Fiona before anyone found out about the ogre curse that would make her look hideous to everyone other than a green ogre.

Abed would never call Annie an ogre.  That would mean he was looking for her to rip off limbs.  Though she does have a scream that could rival that one scene, she’s definitely not Jeff’s ogre anymore.

With a shake of the head, Abed wants out of this metaphor.

* * * * *

Annie is not a princess.  At least, not your typical old-school Disney princess.  Maybe Elsa the Ice Princess… there is a certain closed-off quality to her that makes her scary the more you know her.  Sure, she appears sweet, when she’s not focused on freezing up the world around her with a stare and flick.

Is that how it goes?  Abed doesn’t care for this version, either.

* * * * *

What makes these various stories difficult is Abed is not a prince.  He’s certainly _not_ Prince Charming.  He’s not referring to how whitewashed these films are, though that’s a problem unto itself.  It’s that he’d be cast as the sidekick.  He just might be closer to Donkey than he’d care to admit.  At least he’s good for a witty one-liner, when required, but that’s really not all he is.  Donkey did find his one true love… in a dragon.

Abed doesn’t know what to do with that one.  That fantasy doesn’t work in _any_ reality other than Shrek.

* * * * *

Abed might fit in as more like Westley.  Someone not born of noble blood but hopelessly fulfilling favors for his Princess Buttercup, no matter how dangerous. 

Abed could do that.

He’s not sure he’d ever _want_ to do that.

He’s not sure he’d ever want someone who wants him to forever do dangerous stunts because he’s meant to survive because True Love Conquers All.

Maybe the book tells that story differently.  He doesn’t know.  He just knows that movie has been hyped as one of the Best Love Stories of All Time and he totally doesn’t understand that type of love.

That might mean he’s never truly found love.

He can live with that.

* * * * *

It would be easier if he had Troy to bounce these ideas off.  Abed has his own collection of fantasies in which their Dynamic Duo style would easily get him out of this Princess mode.  But, even without that fact, Troy could help Abed move away from these ideas.  Or, at least, he could laugh the idea off, Abed could laugh along and he could move on to safer worlds.

But he doesn’t have that.  He has Annie in this apartment without a Troy and a lot of free time in his own head, which has proven in the past to be a dangerous time in life.

It is with this in mind that he reluctantly approaches Annie.  He isn’t declaring love so it’s likely safe.

“What do you think of princesses in movies?”

Annie was nose-deep in studying but she must be used to these interruptions because she doesn’t even stop what she’s doing to answer, “They can sometimes be helpless damsels.”

“This is true.”  Now that he’s said this out-loud, he already knows this conversation is down a bad road.  He turns away, hoping this can derail any such plan.

It seems to initially work as he hears nothing further from her.  He heads to the refrigerator, trying to remember what is still leftover.  He discovers the chicken and pasta from two days ago and figures that will work just fine, even if it’s a bit dry.

He’s just gotten a plate set when he hears Annie come in.  “Sorry.  I didn’t mean to brush you off.  What about princesses?”

“I…wouldn’t worry about it.  Just a question.”

“Yeah, I don’t buy that.  What do I think of princesses in movies?  Well, regardless of what happens, they do seem to get their man and live happily ever after.  So I guess it would be nice to live in their world.  But, as _Enchanted_ showed, such plans don’t go so easily in the real world.  I thought I found my prince, but the toad never really turned from that kiss.”

“ _Enchanted_?”  Abed can’t seem to recall that movie.  At all.

“Gisele lived in a fairy tale world then falls through a portal and lands on Earth.  Though, come to think of it, she did land the handsome guy even though he wasn’t actually the prince she had been expected to marry.”  She smiles wickedly as she must realize from Abed’s confused reaction he doesn’t know the movie.  “You mean I stumped you?  Oh, I am so happy about this conversation all of a sudden.”

“I guess I need to see this film to make a… more informed analysis.”

“We totally should.  Although tempted not to so I can say that I know all about a movie you’ve never even seen once.  I know you’ve never even seen it once because there are certain scenes that would stick in your head and it’s totally not there.  I’m loving it.”

As they settle on the couch, the plate set on the coffee table as Annie leans on his shoulder, this is the type of princess Abed can understand.


End file.
